Postage-scale.



UNITED STATES POSTAG E SCALE.

sPEorFIcATIoN forming part of Letters Application filed August 9, 1899.

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES F. RITOHEL, a citizen of the United Statesof America, and a resident of Bridgeport, county of Fairfield, State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inPostage- Scales, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists of an improved construction of scales for weighing pieces of mailmatter and indicating the postage required, whereby itis designed to provide simpler and cheaper scales than the scales ofordinary construction, as hereinafter described, reference being made tothe accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is afront elevation of myimproved scale with a part of thefront plate broken out. Fig. 2 is asectional elevation of the case on line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is atransverse section on line 3 3, Fig. 1; and Fig. i is a side elevationof the spring detached from the other parts.

I make a case of sheet metal or other suitable material, comprising twoparallel side plates a, joined at the edges Z) in any suitable way toafford a space comparatively broad in one way and narrow transversely,the space between the sides being only wide enough to receive a thinplate 01 and a zigzag wire spring e, said plate (1 being of suitablebreadth to carry, say; three columns of numerals, as f g h, forindicating through the sight-openings M or at the lower end of the casethe amounts of postage required for, say, first, second, and third classmail-matter.

The spring is constructed in the zigzag form to adapt it to work in thenarrow case. The upper end is attached to the case at l, and the lowerend is connected to the plate at art, so as to suspend the plate withinthe case with. its lower end normally about the altitude of the lowerend of the case. The loops of the spring are pinched together for somedistance from the extremities, as shown at 'n, in a way to stifienthemand limit the flexing in the expanding and contracting actions ofuse to the parts of the wire intermediate of the Patent No. 655,350,dated August '7, 1900.

Serial No. 726,669. (No model.)

pinched parts, or mainly so, whereby concentrated action at the bends,which would otherwise occur and would sooner affect the in tegrity ofthe spring, is avoided and the tion as to be a practically satisfactoryweigh ing-spring of durable quality.

The upper end of plate cl has a suitable scale-pan 0 for holding piecesof mail to be weighed, and the lower end of the case is pro vid ed withlegs 19 or any other suitable supporting-base. In practice the legs maybe formed of integral strips or prongs of the side plates of the casesuitably bent apart for the required breadth of; supporting-base.

Such scales may of course be employed for weighing any other articles,the registering characters being graduated according to the requirementsof the case.

What I claim as my invention is 1. The combination in a weighing-scale,of the upright case composed of two side plates joined at the edges soas to provide a narrow space between them, and having supportinglegs,pan-supporting plate adapted to move up and down in said case, and thezigzag wire spring placed between said plate and one side of the caseand suspending said pansupporting plate in said case, the loops of thespring being pinched together a measurable distance from the bends.

- 2. The combination in a weighing-scale, of the upright case composedof two side plates joined at the edges so as to provide a narrow spacebetween them and having integral supporting-legs, pan-supporting plateadapted to move up and down in said case, and the zigzag wire springplaced between said plate and one side of the case and suspending saidpan-supporting plate in said case, said pansupporting plate having oneor more columns of weight-indicating numerals.

Signed by me at New York, N. Y., this 26th day of July, 1899. I

CHARLES F. RITCHEL.

Witnesses:

O. SEDGWICK, J M. HOWARD.

spring is adapted for such uniformity of ac-

